Loose media rules move closer to law [ 2007-06-27 15:00 ]
The top legislature Sunday advanced legislation that would allow the media to
report on public emergencies without the government's authorization in a bid to
improve transparency.
The draft emergency response law, tabled at the 28th session of the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) for a second reading, requires
governments that take charge of emergencies to provide "unified, accurate and
timely information about the events and their developments".
Compared to
the first draft, which included fines of as much as 100,000 yuan ($13,100) for
media outlets that report on emergencies without authorization or spread
fabricated information, the second draft only bans the making up or spreading of
false information.
In his report to the standing committee, Wang Maolin,
vice-director of the NPC law committee, said the provision on restricting the
media sparked heated discussion among lawmakers during the draft's first review
last June.
He said some legislators argued that it was improper to
restrict media reports, while some local people's congresses also questioned the
restriction.
The people's congress in Dalian, Liaoning, said the
expression "without authorization" was ambiguous and could let local governments
to cover up the truth.
Local
congresses in Chongqing Municipality and Hubei and Shandong provinces also
argued that transparency is a key part of handling emergencies and that the
media's contributions should be affirmed.
After considering the matter,
legislators decided to eliminate the mention of fines from the draft. It now
stipulates that offenders will be warned, punished or prosecuted. If their offences lead to serious
consequences, their business licenses will be revoked as well.
(China Daily 06/25/2007 page 2)
Vocabulary:
table: 提交
cover up:掩盖
prosecute:起诉
Questions:
1. What would the new bill
do?
2. What is meant by transparency in handling emergencies?
3.
What could happen to media offenders?
Answers:
1. Media outlets would be free to
report on emergencies without seeking government permission.
2. It means
that the government must be forthcoming and truthful in sharing information
about emergencies.
3. They could be warned, punished, or prosecuted, and
even have their businesses licenses revoked.
(英语点津 Linda 编辑)
About the broadcaster:
Matt Doran is an award-winning American newspaper journalist and an
undergraduate student at Albion College. He is currently a polisher for China
Daily Website and is on summer break from Beijing Foreign Studies University,
where he will resume his study of Chinese in the fall.
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